


The fourteenth Doctor

by River_Song20



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M, Female Doctor (Doctor Who), Multi, Whoniverse | Doctor Who Universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:01:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 21,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24042502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/River_Song20/pseuds/River_Song20
Summary: It all began with the regeneration of the thirteenth Doctor. She regenerated with a scream, that everybody heard in the whole universe. With the scream a new life of the Doctor began.
Relationships: Fourteenth Doctor & Original Character(s)
Kudos: 5





	1. The woman in the policebox

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I really like the 13th Doctor, but she soon will be regenerating and so I decided to share my own 14th Doctor with you.

As the thirteenth Doctor stepped out of the darkness of the mourning tardis, a yellow light flew from her hands. It was a orange and bright yellow light, who doesn't hurted her. It was cold like ice. But it only hurted in her chest.

The Doctor stepped to the middle of the tardis. Looking up to the beautiful scenery of the blue lights flashing out of the windows. The Doctor looked at her hands. Full of fear and anxiety. She didn't wanted to go, but she had to. She was hurted. Deathly. From her breast a drop of blood landed on the floor and her white shirt was all red from it.

The Doctor, with a little smile on her face, knowing, that she would survive, put her arms up in the air. "Be good, Doctor, love, smile, and laugh harder than ever before.", she said and after that the light got brighter. With a scream, with everyone in the universe hearded, she put her arms up and regenerated.

Meanwhile the tardis exploded. Green and silver smoke came out of things, they shouldn't have had got out. Fire bursted out of the window, the floor and the walls. The tardis exploded in such a power that everything, that wasn't glued on the ground or the walls got broken. The Doctors scream stopped.

The fourteenth Doctor was here. But not as long as she thought. The fourteenth felt to the ground, while the tardis was crashing down to earth. On fire. Without the Doctor.

* * *

October 1886:

There he was.

James McCartney.

A young man in his twenties looking for a new job in old new York city. He was quite good at selling newspapers, but he wanted to be something different. Not just the friendly newspaper seller from the nightboorhood.

But he was poor. His family was poor. Not that poor as the people saw him. He just had a nice family, mother and father, and a nice house, enough money to have food and drinks. But the people always saw him as poor as the people who where sadly really poor.

James didn't liked the word anymore. He wanted to change something. He wanted to give the people a new save and happy life as the rich people had. Just that.

But Mr. Cameron said no. Everytime he came to him to the bank he said the same, so that James already knew, what he would say: no, Mr. McCartney. We cannot stay behind you and help you out. The people are feeling good. I don't know why you need someone behind this project, if it's just an idea out of the head of a newspaper seller.".

James gave up.

Right now he was selling, what a surprise, some newspapers, in the background the statue of liberty was built. The whole day long James was selling, till he got bored and got home. 

But on the way home he came to a park. The greens where such beautiful and bright, but the blue policebox ruined the beautiful look of it.

In the first seconds he didn't recognized her, but then he saw her and ran for help.

A young woman laid down on the earth in the properly toxic smoke of the policebox. Without thinking James grabbed her and brought her to a bench. He laid her down and wondered what just happened, as the woman opened her eyes.

With a enormous speed she standed up and ran back to the policebox.

* * *

She was thankfully that the young man helped her out, but that was all he could do. At the moment she needed food. Drinks. Water. Her sonic screwdriver. "What are doing?", the soft voice of the man asked.

The Doctor, searching in the not toxic smoke for her sonic screwdriver, ignored him at first. Because of the dark smoke he couldn't saw that the tardis was bigger in the inside. He didn't even mind to follow her. He was just standing there and looking as the Doctor came out with the old clothes of the thirteenth Doctor and her new sonic screwdriver. 

"Listen! You cannot... are you alright?... I mean... miss, who even are you?", he asked with alot of nervousness if you asked the Doctor, who suddenly turned her face to him. Her long brown hair, sadly not ginger, was smoking.

"I'm the Doctor!".

James didn't reacted at first. While the Doctor got back in the policebox he still didn't wanted to move. He even can't.

The Doctor regoniced her new look in a mirror she founded, while she was checking on the tardis.

she saw her brown curls, ran her thin fingers through the hair. "I'm not ginger!" she sighed. suddenly she looked at the rest of her body. "hands. fingers. I'm totally tiny! the wound has healed. good! I'm tiny! why am I so tiny? so small?"actually she wasn't that tiny. Just a bit smaller than before. Suddenly the Tardis hissed and the rising smoke grew blacker. "Oh! forget it! I'm coming!", she called into the air and started working on the Tardis and repairing it. After a few minutes she was finished and left it with a smile. "I landed here because of a damage to the fortifications. 1886. You're still here!" she said to James and passed out.


	2. Gabriel and the door to another world

They called him Gabriel.

He was a dark-skinned young man and was just running for his life. He had been able to free himself from the chair he was tied to and sneaked out of the room before the woman came back, whom he had always called "Mum". The woman who had taken something from his body to implant it herself had taken blood from him until a few moments ago. Since he was still young and this room was his only home, he didn't see much from outside. His instinct said, "Run!" He did that too. He ran through the labyrinthine corridors, avoiding every door and corridor where a guard stood. But Gabriel didn't just flee from jukks. Three of the guards ran after him. They called and threatened and Gabriel ran. He turned in a short, darkened corridor and pressed himself against the wall with a sweat of fear on his forehead. The guards ran past him.

He had shaken them off. Gabriel exhaled in relief. But he's still on guard. What if they came back and saw him? Then it would be delivered. Something buzzed. Gabriel flinched. In the back of the room, hidden between boxes and full shelves, was a blue police box. A policebox It was dusty from top to bottom and looked so sad as if it were a living being. It was the most beautiful Gabriel had ever seen. The buzz again.

Gabriel stepped up to the policebox and touched the wood in awe. Suddenly Gabriel heard footsteps. The guards came back. Gabriel tried to open the door, but it jammed. He leaned against the blue wood in despair. "I don't want to die here," he whispered. A click. The door opened. Without hesitation Gabriel entered and closed the door. Through the glass he saw the three figures who had been chasing him searching the room. They didn't find him. They didn't even look where he was. Gabriel went back away from the door. It could be that they came up with the idea of opening the door of the police box. Fixed on the door, Gabriel didn't notice how big the room was and that it kept going. Suddenly he hit a lever that he accidentally operated. Everything jerked and jiggled. Gabriel cried out as he was thrown sideways against the railing. He scrambled to his feet just to get his feet off the floor. Gabriel decided to hold on to the railing. Sparks flew, the police box hummed their song again. Then everything went silent. Gabriel whimpered and opened the eyes that he had closed with fear. The room looked unchanged, except for the sparking sparks. The first thing Gabriel didn't dare to get up was. He didn't even dare to breathe for fear of being heard. Since everything remained calm and relaxed around him, he breathed a sigh of relief. The sparks sprayed like fireflies, sun rays pierced through the angular windows. For the first time Gabriel saw the room in its full size. It was a huge spaceship, equipped with an elevated library, thousands of rooms, an automat, and the console in the middle. Gabriel was amazed. Of the few things he had seen in his life so far, this was by far the most beautiful.

* * *

As far as Gabriel had searched, the TARDIS rooms were empty. In any case, no strange figures were lying to him. The second good thing was: in contrast to his prisoner's smock, there were warm, cozy and beautiful clothes and an automat on the side of the ship provided warm food and drink. Gabriel changed, took two plates full of meat from an animal he didn't know and strange round yellow things that became porridge when mashed with a fork. Gabriel gulped down the meat and porridge, gobbled and gobbled, and washed everything down with a glass of milk. Soon drool dripped from the corner of his mouth. It dripped ickly on the metal floor and on his greasy new shirt. He was finished soon. The plates were both empty. It was only when he was lying on the floor leaning against the railing that he realized how starved he must have been. It must have been decades, no, centuries, when he hadn't gotten proper food and drink. On Gallifrey - the name of the planet was once revealed to him by a stranger - they had tortured him and given liquid food through tubes. It hadn't tasted good. It wasn't saturated. It had driven him crazy not to get proper food. Gabriel noticed that his eyes were closed. It felt strange closing his eyelids and relaxing. Just take a deep breath. To be free. At some point Gabriel had fallen asleep. For the first time in years, he dreamed. But nothing good. Gabriel lay on the couch of horror, eyes wide with shock and fear. Chained up. Gagged. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead. He tried to free himself. Tried to get away, but couldn't. But Gabriel was not stupid. Despite isolation from the outside world, he had gathered enough information that advised him not to give up. When a figure emerged from the shadows, everything was suddenly forgotten. The shape was blurry. Sometimes big, sometimes small. Sometimes a woman, sometimes a man. But it had to be a single person. Someone from Gallifrey. The figure, probably "Mum", picked up an injection and Gabriel screamed. Screamed and screamed and screamed. But none of this worked. Gabriel startled. He cried. Why not? They had caused him pain and suffering, scars and wounds that he would never forget. Gabriel wrapped his arms around his legs. Hot tears flowed down his cheek. Dripped on the warm red floor. He lay alone in a long, branched corridor made of high arches, which were shattered and blurred by the dream. Mum was gone. The guards outside the door of the torture chamber and in the torture chamber too. Two other characters - whom Gabriel did not want to remember - were also gone. Gabriel couldn't move a bit, and he wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. Was it fear? Most likely. Fear of pain. Fear of punishment that he had fled. What would happen if they found him here? Nothing good.

A pair of shoes came up to Gabriel. He noticed her, sobbed but didn't look up. Now it was time. Now he would be punished for what he had done. But nothing happened. Gabriel slowly raised his head and looked up. The tears had left a mark on his otherwise beautiful dark cheeks. The stranger held a hand in front of Gabriel's nose. A trap? The man seemed vaguely familiar. And for the good. He had seen him somewhere before. But where? When Gabriel didn't respond to the outstretched hand, the man bent down to him. Under Gabriel's quiet, feeble protests, the man whose face veiled the dream picked him up. Then Gabriel was in his strong, protective arms. A voice came suddenly. Not a real voice. More like a whisper. A strange whisper. Gabriel focused on the words.

"... Box ... blue ... flee .... bigger .... Box .... bigger .... flee ....", they repeated themselves again and again until new words were added and sentences formed. "Go to the blue box ... TARDIS ... it's bigger inside ... find it... in the closet ... and flee!".

Gabriel started from the second dream. So he knew the name of the ship! So he knew where she was hiding! In the closet. That had been a closet where he'd found her!

Suddenly the TARDIS turned 90° and Gabriel was thrown aside. The TARDIS hummed and made strange noises. Metal burst. Sparks flew. Gabriel cried out. Silence. Everything was calm again. Gabriel rose gently. In fact, it was only minor damage that occurred. It had sounded much worse. Gabriel remembered his dream and when he remembered a cold shiver ran down his back.

He had freed himself- yes. But there was someone, a man, who helped him escape. And then this man was suddenly gone.


	3. The mad professor

When the Doctor woke up it was bitterly cold. Her lips trembled. "Where am I?", she whispered and suddenly saw the young man, sitting on a chair next to her. The freezing stopped as she looked at the handsome face he had and the brown hair sprayed over his face. The Doctor woked him up with a loud "hello, young man!". The young man looked at her with shock and surprise in the eyes. He didn't know what to do. It was like a lost person standing right before him. Alive and awake. "Your alright? The smoke in the policebox was black and toxic and you passed out!", he said with a worried voice. "Don't be silly! If it where toxic how could I be here? So, what's your name?", the Doctor finally asked. "James McCartney. You can call me James!", James answered. "This is the house of my parents and me. It is normal that a whole family lives in such a small house. My mum and dad are out of town. They're British, by the way. When I've founded you laying in the grass you weren't injured, so I brought you here. Why do I say so much about my family and me?", James looked at the Doctor's face with a hugh questioning mark on his own. "It's because of the eyes!", the Doctor, ignoring James other questions, left the small house. James followed her. "You shouldn't fall in love with the first person you see! That's bad luck. I guess.", the Doctor smiled. It was a cute smile, which mad people had, if they came up with a plan to rule over the world.

She brushed her brown hair again as she eyed the street. Old lanterns looked down on people. The small houses, which offered just enough space for a family of four, became a little bit saddened by the cloudy sky. James had joined the doctor. When she noticed that, a little happy that he was following her, she ran down the street. On the way, she took a newspaper out of her pocket and read while walking. People respectfully avoided her and James tried to follow her quick steps. "The newspaper says that Sir Hamisch Williams, a brilliant scientist, is back with the construction, although he actually had to be on an expedition in Africa. Very interesting.", the doctor stopped, forgot to go to the tardis and put the newspaper in James' hands. "You're a doctor. Then you can talk to him and convince him not to continue building the Statue of Liberty. He's behaving strangely since he's back. He fired half of the workers and they never showed up again ", James explained with pure fear in his eyes. "I'm not a Doctor! I'm the Doctor. Yes, I can do it! Where exactly can I find Professor Williams?"

James then led her to a building in the middle of the city. it was built high and had crooked, dirty windows in which the sun didn't even wanted to be reflected. the doctor had actually planned to fly somewhere else. Another century, another planet, another galaxy, but this could probably wait. the thing with Professor Williams sounded very suspicious and literally cried out for something unnatural. "But first I have to wear something else!", with these words the doctor disappeared into the tardis, which the two reached after a short walk.

* * *

James stayed outside and waited. He was uneasy that the police box should be a spaceship, as the doctor had told him on the way. After a while James couldn't stand it and entered the tardis. At first he thought he was hallucinating, maybe dreaming, but it wasn't. He was standing in a huge round room, from which several steps led in different directions. Up and down and up and down like arms from a octopus. There it went on beneath a small library that curled up on the walls. James stepped closer to the middle. There was a large yellow-gray console around a tube with a transparent rod in the middle. James swallowed incredulously. That couldn't be real. "Fascinating, isn't it?", came the doctor's tender voice at the far end of the console. "It's bigger! It's bigger from the inside!" James found it difficult to produce. His voice trembled. "Don't panic. That's how everyone reacts.", James didn't know if she said it to him or to herself. Both were possible.

The doctor had changed and was now wearing a black coat over a black dotted white blouse and a short, wide pair of jeans from which leggings peeped out. Her black boots reached up to her knee. With her hair tied together, she looked beautiful, even if her appearance looked a little strange to james.

"What's up with that look?", he wanted to say, but not a single word came out of his mouth. "Let's go then! Take a biscuit!", the Doctor appeared next to James, a little smile among her lips.

"Take a _biscuit_?", he wondered. "Yes! My sentence. I'm gonna say that the next few years till it gets boring.", the Doctor, without looking back, ran out of the tardis.

James followed her and and when he caught her, the two ran back to the professor's house. 

* * *

At the doors of the house some man where standing as security guards. The Doctor didn't wanted to cause any trouble with them and especially no attention at first, but wanted to look at the matter from a distant place. After a brief meeting, the two climbed onto the roof of the house and made themselves comfortable in front of a window pane.

Throw them both James and the Doctor could saw a big room full of machines. In the middle of the room a man talked to another. The younger man wasn't happy, he nearly cried. Suddenly he kneeled before the other man and a door opened. The Doctor couldn't really saw what happened. As she looked closer she realized what it was.

A Cyberman.

His metallic body walked to the kneeling man, reached towards him and with a big scream the man was taken with him.

The Doctor knew what was happening now with the man. James's eyes widened in fear. "what just happened there?" he asked her. The doctor couldn't say much, first she had to find out what the Cybermen was doing here. There was a strange sound behind the two. When the Doctor turned around there were two Cybermen standing in front of her. James cried out. The doctor rolled away, under the arms reaching for her, and aimed the first man's head with a metal tube lying around.

The Cybermen got no harm. The doctor, however, had already taken out her short sword and held it securely in combat. "Doctor!" James called, unable to move when a third Cybermen appeared and reached for him. The doctor fought against the arms of the third Cybermen, jumped against the chest of the second, and quietly dropped it against the first. "Quick!" the doctor grabbed James' arm and pulled him with her as the Cybermen stood up. "Where to?" James called as they came across four more Cybermen. When they wanted to turn around, the two were surrounded. James raised his arms. "take us to the professor!" said the doctor and advised him straight away.


	4. The reconstruction of the Cybermen

The Cybermen took James and the Doctor into a hall where Professor Williams was grinning widely. "So, well! Spies! I didn't think I would have to be spied on. If you are behind the plans for the Statue of Liberty, you are unfortunately too late," laughed the professor in his brown suit and his combed back hair. His eyes flashed angrily. "We're not here for the plans! We're here for the missing workers!", said James. "Oh, they are part of my army of robots!" When the professor said that, a few Cybermen came closer to them.  
James looked at him in shock. He didn't want it to be true.  
"The Cybermen are half human, half machine. The lost workers, whom we talked, only exist as their members.", so that had happened to the worker who had been taken away. "We can no longer save them.", the doctor said the last words in a different pitch. She was angry and disappointed too, and something like fear shone on her face.

The professor, whom James had almost idolized for his cleverness, had now become a devilish man. Under no circumstances did such a guy want to experience more than genius. "The Cybermen are creatures that see no benefit in ordinary people other than making them themselves. How did they manage to work with them?" The doctor finally asked. The professor straightened his shoulders. "It's none of her business!" He said bitingly and turned on his heel. "Listen! The Cybermen are using you! If they no longer need you, they will become one of them! Listen to me!", She called to the professor until he paused and turned to her. "The Cybermen? They got me out of Aftika and I'll help them with the plan. One thing I can tell you: soon the whole world will be mine and the Cybermen.", The professor took out a small glass vessel and howled before James Face and that of the doctor. "Oh no! A code. The code so that you can turn a person into a Cyberman. How did you get that?"  
The professor put the jar back in his pocket. "It fell from the sky. With the Cybermen. A few survivors met me days ago. Since then we work together to make all the people Cybermen. That's the plan.".

"So they are so clever and work with you. Ask them who will be in charge later.", said the doctor. The professor laughed, but was silent when he saw the serious face of the doctor. Slowly he turned you over to the cybermen who hadn't said a word until now. "Who ... who will ...?", the professor could only squeeze out when a flash of inspiration passed through him. "Oh ... I see! You want to convince me not to implement the plan. You want to convince me to just leave everything behind. Not with me!", the professor turned his back on the two and was about to just disappearing when a cyberman grabbed his arm. "What should we do with these two?" he asked, to the doctor's surprise. The professor freed himself from the grip of the Cyberman. "Oh, come on! what you always do: you turn us into cybermen!", the doctor said annoyed. "Doctor! they can't do that to us! I don't want to be like that!", replied James panicked.

"Good attitude Jamie!"  
"James!", corrected James.  
"You are not stupid. You only use Professor Williams and plan something of your own behind. I know you. You call me!" said the doctor in the face of the Cybermen.  
The Cybermen remained silent as a mouse. A sound came that James couldn't see exactly what it was.  
"the doctor!" said someone! "the doctor!".

The sound pervaded the whole hall. It was a high-pitched, scratching sound, as if someone was chasing a piece of chalk across a blackboard. The sound became more and more unbearable."what's that?" asked Professor Williams and James wanted to have an answer too.  
"When James and I climbed onto the roof, I played around unnoticed on the ventilation and fuse box, if you can call it so.", the doctor lifted her sonic screwdriver and showed it everyone, "everything is about to blow up here. It's just enough a spark and it makes BOOM. ".  
James never expected the doctor to be so brutal. He hadn't realised that she did that on the roof. Why was he so blind sometimes? The Doctor was mad right now. Maybe it was just the bad mood, because her Tardis broke when she crashed.  
"impossible! the doctor is not able to do this!" replied one of the Cyberman. "Yes!" she said and raised her eyebrow. "remember what I, the doctor, did. Who blew you up when you threatened my friends? Who stayed when you invaded london? Who is the doctor?" As if on cue, the Cybermen directed theirs Arms on her. James flinched. The doctor, on the other hand, did not move. James could see something in her eyes. Triumph. The Cybermen were afraid of her. They didn't recognized her by her face, but by her deeds. The doctor had stopped them before and would do it again. "if you do that, you will blow yourself up. Do you really want to do that?",that was an easy question, James thought. of course they wouldn't.  
"If it destroys the doctor, we will accept sacrifices.", one of the cyberman finally answered. "what ?!", James couldn't believe it! He didn't wanted to die like that! And above all he wanted to experience so much. They couldn't just break that!

"Are you serious? You really never learn!" said the doctor and tossed James something. It was the short sword that he had forgoten completely. "if you don't want to hear, we'll just do it the hard way."  
The doctor raised the sonic screwdriver, and the unbearable noise grew higher and higher until it almost made James numb.  
The professor had to cover his ears and the cybermen did nothing else.  
"Quick!", the doctor grabbed James' arm and pulled him to the exit. When the Cybermen reached for them, James hit wildly, regardless of their arms with the short sword.

The doctor closed the door, grabbed James again, and jumped with him behind the next wall.  
With a loud crash the building flies into the air. Metal burst. windows shattered. Wood went up in flames. The people screamed in panic and tried to put out the fire. Children screamed in horror as the roof sagged. Men came up with buckets of water and put out as much as they could. Women threatened small flames on the floor, so that the fire did not spread to other houses.  
Meanwhile, James got up- smeared with soot and dirty.


	5. Inside the tardis and inside danger

James looked around, saw the chaos and suddenly realized what happened. Before he got up, he checked his body, if he was hurt or not. He wasn't. Luckily. Then he looked for the Doctor. With a smile she sat beside him, unhurted but smeared with soot and dirt, too.  
As James started to smile, she laughed. So did James.  
After a few minutes both got up and left the chaos behind. The Doctor had to go. The tardis, she said to him, has to be repaired. It would take a bit, otherwise she couldn't travel. James didn't know what she exactly meant. He thought the Doctor was joking again.  
As they reached the tardis, he didn't wanted to say goodbye. It was a dangerous adventure, but it was better than selling newspapers to rich people, who didn't even recognized him at first.

Do you wanna stay until the opening ceremony of the Statue of Liberty? that will be great. ", he asked a little shyly. He did not know if she would vote, after all she had a lot to do. The doctor stopped at the threshold of the Tardis and thought about it. But not for long. "Sure, I will.", she replied joyfully. "But until then I have to continue working on the tardis. if you want you can have a look inside. the smoke has already disappeared.", she assured and disappeared into the tardis. James had to calm down first. She had said yes. With a pounding heart he entered the tardis again.

It was such beautiful as he stepped in for the very first time.  
Bright lights of yellow and blue came across the windows and the wide room.  
With a smooth SMASH the door closed herself behind him. "I understand now!", he whispered.  
"What do you now know?", asked the Doctor meanwhile.  
"Everything!", James sat down on of the blue but old chairs. "No, if you were understanding everything... you're not understanding anything! Not so fast! It takes thousands of years to understand.", the Doctor, laying under the console to repair it, said with a bit of patience.

"what exactly are you doing?" asked James as cables and nuts and bolts gathered around the Doctor. "I have to penetrate a circuit so that the Tardis can fly again. The problem is, if I break it in the wrong place in the wrong second, everything flies around our ears here," replied the doctor without looking up and just continued. James swallowed again. He didn't know that the repair could be so tiring and so dangerous. "May I look around a bit?" he asked carefully. "Why?" came the counter question. "because I've never been in a spaceship and I don't want to sell newspapers," said james finally. He didn't know how his counterpart would react. He just hoped that she would understand. "The Tardis is not there to take you on vacation away from a boring job. As long as you know, you can explore the tardis.", came the Doctor, who disappeared even more under the tardis console. "thank you!" and James had already disappeared into the tardis corridors.

* * *

When James was gone, the Doctor appeared under the console, with a screwdriver in her teeth. She got up, put the screwdriver aside and looked at her body. Her fingers, arms, legs, feet and face were all still there. The Cybermen had gone so quickly that she had barely had time to admire her new look. She took off her coat and opened her hair, which gathered around her face like a mane. "Beautiful!" she whispered to herself, admiring her face in the reflection of her tablet.  
Suddenly she got a flash of thought.  
"Newspapers. Newspapers!" she exclaimed excitedly and fled the Tardis. A day had passed when she stepped out. So it was October 27th. Tomorrow the Statue of Liberty would celebrate its opening ceremony with thousands of people. That was what the Cybermen wanted. They wanted to transform the whole city, maybe the whole planet, into their own. She absolutely needed a newspaper! After a few sprints back and forth, she met a little boy who had to sell newspapers.

The Doctor bought one of the newspapers from him. "Here please!" when the boy wanted to give her the change, since she had given him three times the price, she said that he could keep it. The boy's eyes shone. "thank you! thank you so much!".  
The Doctor read the newspaper. The house fire, that she caused, was already reported on the first page. The journalist had written under it:  
" _late afternoon on October 26, the Williams factory was blown up by two criminals. According to eyewitnesses, the fire was started by a man and a woman. There were no injuries. Only the machines inside the factory "were damaged. Professor Hamisch Williams is missing any trace. It is suspected that he survived the fire. We regret that we may not be able to attend the opening ceremony the next day, because little is known about his current whereabouts."_  
The Doctor looked up. Professor Williams had survived. On the one hand, that was good, because the Doctor had sworn never to hurt anyone like that. On the other hand, he could now finish his sinister plan.  
As more and more people took to the streets, the doctor disappeared into the tardis.

* * *

James had found a room full of clothes. He got into it and looked around. It was like a dream. A room full of just clothes and hats and umbrellas. He found a dark coat and and a colourful one and lots of trousers and shoes. All of them were man clothes, expect one: a white shirt with colour stripes on it, a blue pair of trousers and a blue coat. That outfit the Doctor had, before she changed it.

"James!", said someone. As he turned nobody was there. "Hello?", he replied carefully. 

"James, where are you?", the voice whispered. "I'm here!", James got backwards, as he had no idea where the voice came from.

"James, I know you are in my dressing room! Come out of it!", the voice was now angrier.

James couldn't do it anymore. He sprinted to the door, as she closed herself. Luckily James got out of it. He sprinted to the next door. A room full of books. It must be the library. James closed the door and hide himself behind a chair.

"James.", the voice was after him. "Where are you? Are you here?", the door opened. James stopped breathing. His heart beated loudly in his ears. "James! "James where are you hiding?!", the owner of the voice came closer and closer. James made himself very small. When the owner of the voice stopped beside him he closed his eyes. That was it! He would die in a spaceship without seeing his family again. As nothing happened, he carefully opened his eyes.

Nothing.

Nothing was there.

"What?", he said and stood up. Where did it gone? He know that something was behind him. "James?", the Doctor standed in the door. "What are you doing down there?". James ran into her and hugged her. "Something was behind me. Something was trying to kill me!", he said and nearly started to cry. "Don't be silly! That's just the tardis playing with your mind. She doesn't know you.", she answered. "Oh, she doesn't know me?! But you said I could get around this rooms!", James was now angry. But a bit of fear was in his voice. Relief. That it was just the tardis. "I'm sorry! I didn't know you got right into my dressing room.", the Doctor touched his chin. "I'm sorry!", she said again and got out of the room. "We have work to do!".


	6. The key

When James left tardis the next day, October 28th, it was raining. It was wet and cold, and gusts of wind beat raindrops like lashes on James' face. He blinked, tied the jacket more tightly around his torso, and tried not to step into puddles that his boots were holding. The doctor followed James and locked up behind him. "That looks promising!" She murmured and blew past James. "We have to stop Professor Williams before he gets to the statue," she had told him the night before and now they did. Or they wanted to do it, if there hadn't been a crowd that blocked the way. "Oh no!" Said James, when the doctor took his arm and led him through the partying people. James almost stumbled at the pace the doctor was putting on. The raindrops grew thicker and quick-witted and left nothing out. After walking, the two reached the finished statue, which was shrouded in fog. It was like a sudden blindness that overtook him. James could barely see his hands, scraps of voice reached him like a distant echo. "Doctor!" He called desperately when he noticed her absence. He ran carefully and carefully through the fog. He almost bumped into a woman in bright robes, whom he had barely seen. He kept walking, carefully, step by step. How could the other people get along better than him? It had been a bit foggy in the months, but he had never seen it that bad. The celebrations started in Madison Square Park, after which New York Senator William Evarts would deliver his speech, which was likely to be protracted. Suddenly someone grabbed James' arm. It was the doctor. "James, what are you doing? I've secured seats for us in the front row," she told him, pulling straight into the stands on which US President Grover Cleveland, Frederic Bartholdi, the designer of the statue, and others were sitting Luminaries were. Usually the doctor shouldn't have secured any places, or maybe she was just being careful.

* * *

It was terrible. At first she had lost James and then Professor Williams didn't show up. It was almost disappointing. The evil scientists and professors could hardly keep to the schedule that they had chosen themselves! New York Senator William Evarts started his speech. It really dragged on unnecessarily. Half of them could not even be understood because there was a bang and whistle and the mischievous screeching of the steamships and tugs and no one on Bedloe's Island was able to signal them to stop. Then a shadow appeared on the side of the statue, which was clearly similar to Professor Williams. He must have gained access through his high rank as a senior engineer, as the police let someone through who had no good reason. The doctor had to go to him somehow. She could use her paper, but then there was another problem: James. Under no circumstances did she want anything to happen to him. That would really be the last thing she wanted. "There he is!", Now James had also discovered the professor. "We have to get past the policemen. Do you have a plan, doctor?" He wanted to know with his hazel eyes that shone through the fog. "No. I mean yes. I mean no. Yes. James, you have to wait down here while I'm holding Professor Williams.", And she was about to run to Williams when James stopped her. "It's too dangerous, doctor! We have to stop him together!" He replied. The doctor sighed. In a way, he was right. But it was just too dangerous. Not as dangerous as the Cybermen, but still dangerous. She really should have left him in the tardis. "New plan! Go back to the Tardis and stay there until I get back," she mused aloud. James clearly did not agree. "Under no circumstance!". Suddenly a FLOP sounded and the French flag, which had just covered the statue, was pulled down. Far too early after the reactions of those present. People muttered wildly. Out of surprise and ecstasy, because of the beauty of the statue, but also because of the opening too early. People cheered and celebrated when a loud hiss suddenly silenced the harbor. The statue had just moved there. It was hard to make out in the fog, but the doctor was sure that the torch was moving. "Doctor! Is the torch spinning right now or am I halucinating?" When James had finished speaking, the torch fired a blue beam that shot directly into the crowd. People screamed and scattered. The security men brought the president to safety. Cybermen suddenly stood where the beam had hit people. "What the ...?" James cried out. Instead of answering, the doctor sprinted away. James followed her through the chaos. More and more people around him became Cybermen. Screams shot through the air. James had caught up with the doctor after a while, his chest burning. Since the police were distracted by the turmoil and poor visibility, the two of them could easily get to the statue. He suddenly discovered traces of blood on the plinth. "Doctor! There's blood!" James reported immediately. "Yes and there is the owner.", She pointed to a sunken body that was next to the bare bronze foot of the statue. The doctor and James came up to him. The doctor checked his pulse when Professor Williams opened his eyes.

"I did it! Isn't it beautiful? Isn't this masterpiece beautiful ?!", he gasped. Without having much strength in his legs, he sat up and held up a key with strange shapes and bickers. The doctor knelt in front of Professor Williams, took the key in disgust and looked at it briefly. "With that, they started the machine!", She concluded. "So the key survived, but you were badly injured. The Cybermen promised you fame and used you as a back door instead. They were injured in the explosion. I'm sorry! It shouldn't have come this far." Professor Williams could look at her dimly for a moment until he looked up into the foggy sky. "I was injured before. The Cybermen promised me a cure. Yes, they wanted to make me one of their kind, but then they got in between. Ladies and gentlemen, the Cybermen Statue of Liberty! HAHAHA!" Laughed Professor Williams. In the background the crowds burst apart screaming. The doctor got up, looked at him crookedly, and then at James. "Let's leave him!" Replied James, who was too scared. He bit his lip. Professor Williams was so enthusiastic about his sophistication that he had actually given them the key. "Awesome!" He thought. At that moment the apparatus that brought the machine to life in the statue struck and the earth began to shake. James and the doctor fell into the soft grass of the pedestal.


	7. Where did the statue go?

Accompanied by the professor's laughter, the left foot of the statue rose like a living being. With a loud BAMM he landed next to the base. The right foot followed and the statue was already more alive than before and on its way to take New York in its lack. "That's not a good thing!" The doctor shouted through the noise caused by the statue and scrambled to his feet. James couldn't believe what was happening. A statue that lived. Something like that was impossible, and yet it had truly happened before his eyes. He also got up and watched the slowly moving statue. It hadn't yet reached New York City, but was just destroying some steamships. Her torch was still in her hand. Only when she encountered people did she fire like mad. "Help them, doctor!" The doctor whispered next to James, who looked at her in confusion. The doctor looked at James with a big grin. "I want to try something," she said, pulling a key. The tardis materialized around them with known sums. When the Tardis was completed, the doctor immediately ran to the console and played with the levers and pressed buttons until it stopped. It rocked and turned, and James had to hold onto the railing so that he didn't hit the ground. The doctor held on to the console. The tardis dematerialized again. "Where are we going to?" James called worriedly to the doctor. "Since the Statue of Liberty is running away, I just fly the tardis into her hollow body. Only the Tardis is very reluctant to do so, because she is confused and afraid to get stuck in it.", Rumbled. "You are a time machine and a spaceship! You won't just get stuck! Did you forget how the circuit works that lets you fit in anywhere?", Rumbled and hissed again. Steam rose from the floor. "She's mad!". The doctor operated another lever. The tardis couldn't possibly be serious! Getting stuck had never happened to her. But the doctor understood if she couldn't materialize into a moving being. However, the Statue of Liberty was so sluggish and slow that the tardis could most likely make it. The doctor flew into the stomach of the Statue of Liberty with a lot of complaining and hissing of the Tardis.

rJames took a deep breath. You did it! They were in the Statue of Liberty. He scrambled to his feet, which punished him with a painful pull in his arm, and looked around. It was steaming from some corners and the ceiling was literally glowing. The doctor was nowhere to be found. "Doctor?" He called across the empty room. Nobody answered him.  
-  
The doctor had gotten out and left James in the care of the tardis. He had been thrown to the ground by escaping steam and had broken his arm. The doctor found it safest if James stayed in the tardis, the break there could heal better than in the hot interior of the Statue of Liberty.  
The doctor closed the tardis' door and started the descent to the foot of the Statue of Liberty with the overheating metal parts inside. She climbed past pipes and columns that steamed into her face, and after a while she had no feeling in her fingers. The air was now thin as paper. She should have left her coat in the Tardis, which got stuck on bolts and nuts several times. As the steel beam she was descending grew thicker, she realized that she must have reached the leg. She looked over and saw another beam carrier in the distance. That had to be the other leg. Only which was the device on? The doctor just dropped into the tunnel. She landed on all fours, jumped up and fell on her nose. When she got up again she touched the cold wall. Small gears spinning in front of her moved the toes of the statue. The doctor took out her sonic screwdriver and scanned for the device. When she found him outside behind a door, she took out the key and prepared to switch off the statue. The apparatus steamed contemptuously, but the doctor opened it easily and stuck her head in the steam. She recognized wires and nuts, but the copper lock had melted by now. So the doctor could forget the key. It rumbled. A squeak followed and the doctor heard it creak somewhere inside the statue. Something must have come off her head. Suddenly the statue stopped. The doctor lost her footing, fell and almost fell out of the door. The stone floor was already on her face when someone grabbed her and dragged her back. The doctor fell on all fours, groaned, and scrambled to his feet. James stood in front of her, her hair sunk and her face bright red. "Doctor!", He just managed to get out, as he was already fainting at her feet. She knelt down and measured his fever. The air was stuffier and more toxic. It was getting hotter. The doctor got up and took out her sonic screwdriver again. With a nasty look, she indicated the device with him. It squeaked again. The statue came to a halt. "Thank you Liberty. I'm asking you to cool down and return to your pedestal," the doctor gasped. The statue did as it was told: it turned and strutted back onto its base. With the last of her strength, she raised the torch and looked out into the distance. The inside slowly cooled. When James woke up, the doctor was sitting next to him. "It's over!" She gasped. The steam hadn't done her any good. She had probably misjudged herself.

"Doctor. Your voice," James gasped, coughing heavily. "The tardis will heal us. Come on. Can you go?" Asked the doctor in her remaining voice. "Yes!". The doctor helped James get up and led him through the door next to the device. The cool misty air hit them in the face. Exhausted, the two settled in the cool grass. "Done!" Groaned James. Next to him, the doctor lifted the key of the tardis, who settled next to them with an insulted but worried buzz. Her blue color shone like new. "Look good!" The doctor gasped. "Was the steam!", She coughed. You was hot. Incredibly hot. The cool grass looked like a pack of ice for cooling. The tardis' door opened. With all his strength, James and the doctor dragged themselves inside, where they sat on the cold metal floor with the ventilation slots. The door slammed behind them. "Tea!" The doctor shouted too well. It pinged and two cups of tea suddenly appeared in the food counter.


	8. Just a dream

James opened his eyes. The sunlight of the new day broke through the glass and warmed his body. The metal floor had been so cool and relaxing that he must have fallen asleep. Sleep had been good for him because he was no longer glowing and his lungs no longer hurt from the steam and the stuffy air. He turned on his side, groaned when his chest showed a prick. "Stay where you are!" Advised a familiar voice. He moved his eyes and head, but couldn't find the doctor anywhere. "I'm here! Here, drink!", A cup came into his field of vision. When he reached for it, someone raised his head and put it on his lap. The doctor's face smiled at him worried but happy. "Drink and you'll be better!" She said again. James drank a long sip as he was told and felt the water cool in. "Thanks!" James managed to get out with a lot of effort. His throat was dry and it hurt to swallow. "I'm a timelady. I'm more immune to this heat than an ordinary person. It almost killed you, so I didn't want you to come with me. How did you get out of the tardis?" She asked unwaveringly. "I asked the tardis very nicely and maybe scared her that she might get stuck if I don't rush to help you," said James, taking another sip. He was feeling much better. "The Tardis could have flown away. It doesn't get stuck so quickly. Maybe you convinced her that you wanted to help me. She loves me. If someone wants to help me, she is immediately convinced and cheers for them," said she and stroked the metal floor. "This old lady has so much emotion and love. She chose me because she wanted to experience adventure and on the long journey between time and space we became more friends than a captain and his ship. We are a family!", Almost the doctor looked around the control room longingly. "Beautiful!" She murmured. The tardis let out a long sigh, as if it agreed to it. "What happened to the Cybermen?" James quickly changed the subject. "All people are back to normal. Professor Williams has been arrested for spying and the Statue of Liberty is back in its place and shines as ever," replied the doctor. She smiled and put her palm on James' forehead. "You no longer have a fever. However, you should drink a lot, otherwise your throat will not get better." James looked up at the Tardis ceiling. Since everything was fine again, their paths would separate again. He wanted to accompany the doctor. Not because he loved her, but because he wanted to experience adventure. He wanted to see the stars. If the tardis could travel through space and time, he would certainly visit other planets. Aliens. He would meet aliens and experience so much that it wouldn't even fit in books. But he would have to leave his family - his parents, his little sister. He didn't know when he would be back. "Would you like to go home again?" Asked the doctor the all-important question. James nodded. After two attempts to get up, James was able to walk alone to the tardis' open door. The doctor accompanied him with caution. When James looked out of the door into the turbulent city, with the many people of different origins and the houses from which smoke rose, a spark blazed in him. He wanted to see more. He had seen this city before, but how many people had the opportunity to travel through time and space with an alien in a police emergency room? "Doctor, if I go, what will happen to my family? You will find that I am missing and will miss you. You will think that something else has happened to me," James revealed to the doctor his grief. "If you want to go back, I can bring you right now and it will look like you never went away," she explained. Then James turned and entered the control room with a smile. "If that's the case, I want to stay. I want to see the stars. New worlds. Other life forms. Let me fly with you!" The tardis' door slammed. "Great! I thought I had to do my next adventure alone! Sit down there.", She pointed to a long brown bench. "Relax! I'm driving the Tardis wherever you want. Where do you want to go?" She said in such a hurry that James barely came. "A quiet place. An exciting place. Wherever you want!" James replied. The doctor turned the console with a disappointed look and the Tardis took off with a hum.

* * *

Gabriel opened the tardis door and found himself on a small street. People paced up and down, ignoring the fact that a blue police box landed between them. Gabriel got out cautiously. The cobblestone floor ached under his bare feet and the cool air was good for him, unlike the stuffy air in his cell. He stumbled a few steps until he settled on a lush green meadow. This trip with the Tardis had been so nice that he could rest for a while.

"Doctor! Wait for me!", This sentence made Gabriel look up. Doctor? The name seemed familiar to him. He must have caught him somewhere and with him he suddenly remembered a figure, nice, caring, lovable. Gabriel felt a stab in his heart. He wanted to see the doctor! He got up and looked around for the owner of the voice. A short haired woman ran past him. Her eyes shone wisely, as if she had seen worlds to which he had no access. "Doctor!", She called fearfully to an older gentleman who trotted ahead. Fear? What should she be afraid of? Gabriel turned and faced a slightly larger cone-shaped robot with two strange poles sticking out of its lower body. "Eliminate! Eliminate!" Said the robot, firing a beam at Gabriel.  
"You were a good boy! Take it up, the dates. Take it up like food and you'll be better!", A blurry figure squeezed an injection into Gabriel's arm. It piqued briefly, then he closed his eyes and fell asleep. He was lying in the couch, tied up and connected to cables. He had been dreaming. The rescue by the mysterious man, the tardis, the robot. It had all been a dream. The figure turned away and put the syringe on twelve more, three of which were still empty. "Sleep well, Gabriel!".


	9. Silence in the middle of the night

The tardis landed with a long buzz that made the doctor skeptical. "You're always so picky," she said, pulling a lever. "Me? I'm not picky!" Protested James, standing next to her and holding on. "I mean the tardis. She doesn't want to end up here because she's afraid of getting seasick!" Came from her as she lay down on the floor and did something under the console of the tardis. There was a hiss that made James flinch. The next moment she was standing next to him with a bundle of cables in her hands. She smiled. A nice crazy laugh that geniuses put on when they were working on a secret dangerous project. Her eyes went to the tangle of cables in her hands and she was gone under the console again. Another hiss and hum, and the tardis smoked like an exploding cauldron. "Uh! Doctor ... the tardis is about to explode!" James warned her. Without realizing much of it, the doctor reappeared and held a key in his hands. "Did you say something?" Asked her big, shining eyes. "The tardis explodes!" Repeated James, already running to the door. "Oh what! The old girl just needs a check-up!", The doctor calmed down and touched the console. It stopped smoking and humming and hissing. James stopped at the door and looked around in astonishment. "But ...?" Without understanding a word, he pointed to the console. "I have everything under control, James! Really! Trust me!" Said the doctor as she reached for her coat and came up to him. "Let's go!", The key had found its way into the coat pocket. With a grin that could only have come from a madman, she opened the door and stepped out. James followed her without further ado and immediately regretted it. In front of them were some of the soldiers who were pointing their rifles at them, most likely loaded.  
"Doctor!" Said James, and was about to surrender. He thought the doctor would do the same, instead she lifted her magical paper up to her nose. "Naval Inspector Smith! This is my partner James. We want to do a surprise inspection. Surprise!" She said. The soldiers hesitated, then lowered their weapons and disappeared. Except for one.  
"Henryson. At your service, ma'am! I am the chief commander. I was not aware of a surprise visit, which is why my men and women were so surprised.", Henryson was a man with short-cropped hair and a look that said that he really wanted to experience something exciting. "That's the point of a surprise," replied the doctor cheerfully. Reluctantly, Henryson asked her and James to follow him and led them down a narrow and low passage past many kayouts to the bridge. As they walked through the silence, James tapped the Doctor on the arm. "Doctor, a surprise visit isn't a good reason to show up here. What's really going on here?" James whispered to her.  
"In 1990 the Sankt Churchill sinks inexplicably. I really wanted to know why. Before the ship sinks, of course, we will go again!", She assured, without a bit of trust in James. The ship would sink and he didn't wanted to do that. He didn't wanted to escape a deadly statue and then die like that. The doctor saw that more loosely.  
She was beaming as she entered the bridge. Men and women sat at the command systems as well as the machine telegraph and the communication devices, pressing switches and buttons, to which James could not assign any meaning or name, even their functions. "The bridge, Miss Smith. Mr. Smith," said Henryson, although when asked James it was a little late. After all, he had already got a good overview. The room was large and darkened so that the people working here could concentrate better.  
The door through which they had come was the only one, and in the middle was a map that located the sea on a metal table. "We are not married," said the doctor. James looked up in surprise. "Um ... yes, exactly! I'm actually James McCartney," he replied awkwardly. "Then I'm sorry! Which rooms do you want to see next?" Asked Henryson. The doctor took no time and immediately replied: "The infirmary. Tell me, have there been any strange occurrences lately, for example strange illnesses?". James stopped the crowd from looking at her crookedly. Even if it sounded strange to him, it was a plausible question for the doctor. "Except for one incident, I don't know anything. If they're already there, feel free to enjoy our homemade pancakes. They are really delicious," he said. When he saw the doctor's unenthusiastic look, he apologized and led her on. "What was that about?" James asked the doctor. "That was a lie. He wanted to distract from the subject and said that with the pancakes. They never make anything here themselves. He has to know something," she replied. Henryson opened the door to the infirmary. James smelled the smell of disinfectant around the nose and the smell of hospitals. Henryson asked the two to put on protective clothing and he, too, also put on the turquoise protective coat. When he, James and the doctor behind a protective barrier they realized why they had to put on their coats. The two doctors Phillips and Campbell surrounded a man lying on the bed. He hardly seemed to be conscious. At least his eyes were closed and his forehead shone with sweat. His skin was bluish, foam was dripping from his mouth. James put his hands over his mouth. "Mr Phillips, Miss Campbell, this is Miss Smith and Mr. McCartney. They are naval inspectors and want to see the infirmary," said Henryson. Campbell looked at them both slightly mockingly, while Phillips peeked out from behind his goggles and grinned. "Welcome on board! Feel warmly hugged. Unfortunately we cannot shake hands. Our patient here, Mister Baker, has become infected with something we do not yet know the identity of. But! We are working at full speed to find out.", he assured.  
The doctor was immediately taken with his character. She smiled flatly and spoke to him about medical stuff James didn't even understand. "It's so great to be here!" The doctor finally said. "We both feel very sorry about Mr. Baker. What happened?" She asked with a glimmer in her eyes that James had never seen before. "When he woke up, his mouth foamed. His eyes were blue as the sea. He attacked two of our men," Campbell said gruffly. James took a closer look at Mr. Baker. He was pale and sweating, a clear sign of a high fever. Foam dripped from his mouth. He had been poisoned and combined with the fever it had to be fatal. Suddenly Baker opened his eyes. They were as blue as Campbell had described. They wandered around until they fixed James. Baker raised his massive torso and opened his foaming mouth. "James!" The doctor called. James landed on the floor with a painful impact. His still injured lung spoke up. "Are you all right, James?" Asked the doctor, who was sitting protectively next to him. He couldn't answer her. His eyes were on Baker, who was furiously writhing on the bed while Campbell and Phillips pressed him into the mat. Phillips injected a yellow liquid into his arm. At the same time, Baker snapped at her. After a few heartbeats, Baker sagged and Campbell and Phillips could let go of him. "James?" The doctor's voice penetrated James. He quickly realized what had just happened, but he was too shocked to react. "James! Henryson, James needs right away-" Henryson's face caught his eye. He blinded him with a flashlight to see the reaction of his pupils and put his hand on James' forehead. He said something and Campbell carefully picked James up.  
James couldn't move at all, he couldn't even say that his lungs made it difficult for him to speak. He couldn't tell how much his skull was pounding from the impact. Or was it the unfamiliar bright light of the hospital room, the smell of disinfectant that he couldn't cope with? He knew exactly that the doctor would help him, and that he would probably solve the mystery surrounding Baker. Baker. His attack had shocked him so much that he could no longer see anything. The light went out and James was alone. He was lying on a couch wrapped in a thin blanket. He must have missed everything, otherwise he would know where the other four were, why he was here, where the doctor was, and why his lungs no longer hurt. He moved his head and registered a body on a bed at the other end of the room. That had to be Baker. James had imagined it completely different. He hated to be locked in the same room as Baker, even if he was sorry. A strange screwing sounded and the clatter of metal. Then it was completely quiet again. James caught his breath. Someone broke in. Maybe to steal something, maybe to scare James even more. He went to sleep and waited. He registered no footsteps or breaths. It was just silent. "James!" Said the doctor suddenly. "You can stop pretending to be dead! Pretty dark here! I hit something twice," she said without further ado. "Doctor!" James murmured, scratching his throat.  
"I recommended Campbell and Phillips to give you ginger tea. Unfortunately, they didn't have any more ginger, so there is a secret ingredient from the 19th century inside. As you can see, you can say a word," she explained. James felt her warm body next to him and the smell of honey that she exuded. "How did you get in here?" James asked curiously. "Through the ventilation shafts," she probably replied with a smile that he couldn't see through the dark. "I'm here because of Baker and maybe because of you. The light is out so I don't wake him up," and her warmth was already gone. The "maybe" acted mean, but did James more good than the ginger tea, which was not a ginger tea. The doctor must have gone to Baker. A small light flared up at the other end of the room. Now James could see that Baker was tied to the hospital bed. The doctor ran the light over Baker's body, taking a close look at his face and making a note of everything in his head. The light went out and James smelled the honey again and took in the warmth of the doctor. "Looks like poisoning. I'll leave you here first so you can keep an eye on him. And maybe that you will rest. Until then.", With these words she disappeared. The grille of the ventilation duct rattled softly until everything sank again into silence.


	10. The skate in the fog

After leaving James alone, she tiptoed back into her quarters that Henryson had made available to her. He was extremely shocked by the incident and asked them to postpone the rest of the inspection. The doctor himself had been completely dismayed by the incident. If only she had left James in New York, where he belonged! She had only taken him with her, why was that? Because she felt lonely? Because she needed help treating her amnesia that Susan had already made her forget? Maybe it was his sad look at the big city that made him tremble.

The good thing was that he had to stay in the infirmary now. So he couldn't be in danger. The doctor locked the door behind him and went to work. Cards and letters from the future lay scattered on the floor in front of her, and a photo showed the hull of the sunken Saint Churchill. They had declared algae and fish to be their new home. The diving boat had gotten so close that the name could be clearly recognized: the wood was peeling off and the color had long since faded. The doctor sat in the middle of the mess and studied the cards. Knowing that Baker had been poisoned, more questions arose for her. However, she did not need sleep. It took her rest and time to find an answer. Every now and then she sneaked into the Tardis and visited her library to look up something in the thick books and also to drink some ginger tea that the vending machine gave. When the next day dawned, she had figured out why Saint Churchill was sinking.

* * *

"An explosion!" she said to James the next day. His perplexed expression spoke volumes. "A ... what?" He repeated in shock. "An explosion!" Repeated the doctor. They had made themselves comfortable in their quarters with two cups of ginger tea and discussed how to proceed. Of course, the doctor had anticipated and planned everything. James only had to follow her and not take a step in the wrong direction. "Why should the ship explode?" James wondered aloud. The doctor must have had an answer to that. After all, he was sitting on her papers from the future. "Unfortunately, the reason is not mentioned in any way. We'll have to find out for ourselves. So we're still at least-", she raised her finger in the air and looked at her improperly worn wristwatch, "a day on this ship." James groaned in annoyance. He was very reluctant to spend another day here. Loud hurried steps made the doctor look up just as she was about to say something.

A babble of voices accompanied the steps. The doctor got up and looked outside. James did the same. Uniformed men ran down the hall in panic. Now James could understand her talk: there was another infected. When the troops ran past, the doctor headed in the direction they had come from. "Doctor! They're all running to the right. I'm sure the infected one is over there!", He called to her, but she simply ignored him. Doubting whether he should follow the troops or the doctor, he stopped in the open door. "James!" She called suddenly. He looked to the left and saw that the doctor was coming straight at him. "Quick! Run!" She called. A woman and two men, one of whom was Philipps, hissed after her.

Foam dripped from their mouths, their blue eyes glowed hungrily. One of them must have infected the other two. James took his legs in his hand and ran for his life. He turned left and threw everything he could in the way of the three of them. He met Philipps in the pit of his stomach, who then took the grate and broke in the middle. With a roaring roar, he ran on. The doctor stood in front of James with a fire extinguisher and sprayed on it. The foam hit the three infected and prevented them from moving on. When the fire extinguisher was empty, the doctor threw it at the infected. "Quick!", She took James' wrist and headed for the next room. It was the pantry. James locked up and slowly calmed down. They had left the infected behind. He looked around relieved. Boxes of fruit, vegetables, and other groceries lined up in front of him. At the end of the room everything was covered in strange green fog. "Doctor! What should we do now? I thought Baker was poisoned. But it doesn't look like it at all," he said, his heartbeat almost cutting his air. When she didn't respond, he looked into her bright eyes. "This is fantastic!" She said, beaming with joy.

James blinked in amazement. "In what way is that fantastic, please? We're going to get infected and most likely die," James replied panicked. The doctor just kept smiling. "Oh no! We will not die! I promised you that we would go if it happened. We just have to find the Tardis and we are safe," said calmly. "We can't just let the crew down! The ship will sink and we'll just let it happen ?!" James cried desperately.

  
Someone cleared his throat. Campbell had been hiding behind a shelf on a stool in fear. Her otherwise neat hair was messy. She must have witnessed the attack. Maybe Baker had even attacked her. "I only understand half of it," she said hesitantly, "but this is not the right time to discuss." She got up. Her face was wrinkled, her little eyes were wise and old. "I wanted to enjoy my pension in a few years, but if it comes as far as you said, please take this here." She handed James a strange device with a red button on the top. "A load of explosives was built in during construction," she said seriously, causing James to look up. 

"Why that?" He asked nervously. He couldn't believe he had the detonator in his hands. "An old custom of the builder. Usually ships have the names of women for good luck. But this one only bears the last name of a woman. It is a male-sounding last name. The builder, Sir Edrick Humphrey, installed the explosive charge so that In the event of an accident, the ship does not reach the port and the accident thus passes on, "she explained. James then gripped the trigger with his whole fist. "Thanks!" Said James. Campbell withdrew and began to take pictures of their children and grandchildren out of their jacket pockets. "Oh! We will definitely not leave you behind!" James quickly assured when he saw her sad face. "That's nice. Thanks, James. I've already been infected. In a few minutes I will be one of them. This is my crew. If you die, I will go with them," she said, and a tear formed in her eyes . James knelt in front of her and clasped her hands. "You are a great woman. Your family will never forget you. You are a heroine!" He said.

"James!" whispered the doctor next to him. James looked up and saw that she had become more serious. The doctor's gaze was blank, her body was on the verge of collapse. "Come on! Let her!" She whispered carefully. James didn't want to admit what she had just said. She has to be crazy! "Follow me!", she said, but James stayed where he was. He couldn't go on. He wanted to save the crew.

* * *

Even if James didn't trust her, she trusted her senses, which made her aware of a singing that came out of the fog. It was an anxious singing that was buzzing for self-reassurance. The doctor dropped to his knees and crawled through the mist. At the other end of the room, the wall was covered with shelves. The fog gathered in the middle of the row. That had to be the source. "Hey little friend," she whispered reassuringly to the source. The singing stopped abruptly. All of his senses were focused on the doctor. "Hey, I'm the doctor, that's Campbell and James over there. We don't want to do anything to you! We're here to help you! I know they hurt you, but that's over now!" She said reassuringly to the essence. The fog lifted and a ray-like being made itself visible. His skin was dark blue and spotted, a small antenna that protruded from his forehead glowed faintly. The doctor noticed that James was approaching. "What's that?" He asked quietly. "A Mystcrotropy!" Answered the doctor, gently stroking the thick leathery skin of the Mystcrotropy. The doctor felt how afraid and was about to cover the room with fog. "All right! All right!" She murmured soothingly. "Someone must have brought him here. Usually Mystcrotropy avoid dark places. And on his home planet Airpoka it's winter right now. That means they all hibernate," the doctor continued. James sat down next to her and brushed a strand of hair behind his ear. "Is the fog his self-defense or something?" He asked. The doctor, fascinated by his insight, nodded in reassurance. "Yes. The mist is toxic. It makes everyone aggressive and makes everyone foam. The mist must have passed to the crew's food and thus poisoned Baker, Phillips and the others. Since Phillips was wearing a protective suit, I found it strange that he got something. ", she rubbed the skin of the Mystcrotropy again. "Maybe Henryson knows something! He behaved strangely from the start," James thought aloud. The doctor took a deep breath. "You're right! Right. But Henryson will not speak immediately. Especially not now when half the crew is infected. Or is it? Maybe out of desperation," she said.

* * *

James stuck his head through the door. Nobody was in the hallways. James gave the doctor a hand signal that everything was okay. They sneaked out cautiously, armed with a fire extinguisher. Or James was armed. The doctor had refused to fight the infected. She wanted to help you and not cause you any more pain. Without being attacked, the two reached the bridge where everything was still the same. Henryson had leaned over the chart when the doctor and James entered. "Ah, Miss Smith. Mr. McCartney. I hope you had a good night on St. Churchill. In a few hours we will reach the mainland," he said more seriously than the day before. "We don't have time for this! Half of the crew is infectious. If we reach the mainland, the virus will spread in seconds!" Warned the doctor immediately. Henryson raised his eyebrows. "I don't know what you mean," he said incredulously. The doctor was not impressed by it. Henryson knew something. Maybe he had more to do with the whole thing than he pretended. "Then what does the Mystcrotropy do on board?" She asked with her arms crossed. "Myst- what?".

"The skate," James said quickly. The smile faded from Henryson's face. He swallowed hard. A clear sign of his guilt. "Listen, it's all a misunderstanding. My deputy commander has just as much to do with it! He took the skate with him on board," he finally admitted. "That's disgusting! The Mystcrotropy got scared to death! It's an innocent creature with a family!", The doctor almost shouted, so that everyone heard them on the bridge. "I will look for the deputy!" Suggested the doctor. James hesitated. The infected people were still out there, infecting the other crew members. "But, doctor, the infected!" Said James quickly, hoping that she would come up with another plan. "You're right!", She finally admitted, "you can check on him!"  
"What? That's not what I meant!" Said James loudly, but was silent as soon as he looked into the serious face of the doctor. "Okay. Okay! Then I'll look around for him," he said quickly and started to pound his heart.  
The passage was dead silent. Only his heartbeat was the only thing he heard. He crept past doors, ducked behind the stairs to the deck, and waited. Still nobody. It couldn't be, he thought softly. He must have met the infected people long ago! James crept on. He was unarmed, which made him wince at the sound of the ship. Suddenly he heard a rumble that came from the next door. It sounded like the rumble of an infected person. James leaned behind the door and locked it before the infected man could break out. James breathed a sigh of relief. In the corner of his eye, however, he noticed a quick movement that ran straight towards him. He turned his head only to find that he was the prey. With a cry on his part, James ran. He ran the infected man's neck past rooms into which he wanted to escape. He would have to make it in 2 seconds to escape and he wasn't able to do that. James tried to shake off the infected, who was incredibly fast, but no matter how often he turned, he never escaped.

Suddenly, James lost the ground under his feet. He rolled over. His leg hurt. There was already the infected who jumped at him. In a flash, James grabbed a pipe and held it up to his face. The infected burrowed his long foaming teeth into the metal, hissed, bubbled. He tried to catch up with James, but each time James slapped his claw-like hands away. He stepped into the infected man's strong body until he let go. James quickly got up. Boldly he held the pipe in front of him like a sword and parried every blow from his opponent. He took a swing and hit him in the head. The infected man fell to the floor. James stared at him, perplexed. He nudged his shoulder with the tip of his shoe, but nothing happened. The infected remained motionless. James nodded in satisfaction. He picked up the pipe and headed to the deputy commander's cabin. He had previously seen a list lying around listing the different rooms and, strangely, had noted the representative's room. Now he just had to hope that the deputy hadn't gotten there yet.


	11. Running, running and running

The doctor breathed a sigh of relief. She looked at the screens on the surveillance cameras. There had just been a fight between an infected person and James. James had defeated him despite his little combat experience. "So what do you want to do now?" Henryson brought her back. "We cannot go ashore. The infected would throw everything into chaos and every second would be infected. That means we have to somehow stop the ship from doing it," the doctor thought. "But my crew wants to go home to their families. It won't be long now," complained Henryson, whereupon the doctor glared at him.

"They cannot meet they're families when the ship arrives at the port!" The doctor almost shouted. Henryson did not want to admit this in an impossible way and only half listened to her. "And what if only the healthy people reach the port? Then everything is fine!" He mused aloud. The doctor rose. It was bubbling inside her. How could you be so stupid?

Henryson just wanted to get there, but apparently he couldn't think. "How do you want to know whether you are healthy or have long been infected? The blue pupil-free eyes? The foaming mouth? That I'm not laughing! Then it is already too late! You have been out for days. Have been in contact with each other. When eating. On the bridge. Everyone here could already be infected! ". After this speech, the doctor crossed her arms. She had had enough of the almost blind Henryson. He didn't deserve to run this ship. Henryson looked at her with fearful eyes. He twitched and writhed as if something were running up his back. The doctor looked around only to find that the bridge officers had the same symptoms. In a few seconds, white foam dripped from their mouths. Her pupils faded, her eyes turned blue. The doctor took a few steps backwards, bumping into the metal table. He made a nice clink that made the infected look up. They fixed the doctor, thought for a moment and came slowly towards them. "I don't want to say anything," she said to Henryson, "but you deserve that!" Henryson took a swing.

* * *

James reached the deputy commander's cabin. He heard a low murmur through the door, which suggested that he was still fine. James stepped in carefully and locked it behind him. The deputy commander named Peters sat with his short-cropped black hair under his cap with his back towards James. When James cleared his throat, he jumped up in alarm. "What are you doing here? How did you get in here? Did you knock? I had headphones inside," he said hastily. A headphone cord actually hung from his ear. "I'm here to confront you about the mystcrotropy, the skate," James said quickly. "Oh! You know about it!" Peters sighed. He seemed to cooperate better than Henryson. "What's the pipe about?" Peters pointed to the pipe that James was still holding in his hands. "It's because of the poor people who got infected because of you and Henryson and are now racing through the ship to infect others," James replied. Peters leaned against his chair. "Well! Well, I wanted to sell the Mystcrotropy, as you call it beautiful, because of its rarity on the black market for a large amount. But the infected people get in my way there." He reached for his service weapon, which was on the desk in close proximity, and aimed it at James. He saw this coming and slapped the gun out of his hand. "Why do everyone want to kill me today?" James was annoyed. "Maybe because you know a lot, boy!" Peters said cheekily. James wrinkled his nose. "Ey, I'm 25 and no longer a fellow!", He countered. Peters wanted to say something even cheekier, then it was ice cold down his spine. James staggered backwards and slammed the door. Rumble answered at the other end. He was trapped.  
As Peters changed, James locked the door. He didn't want the other infected people to come along. He could defeat Peters alone. It was not difficult. Head to head. A no-brainer. Peters' transformation was accomplished. His blue stare fixed on the ceiling. He seemed to be thinking. Slowly he rolled his head to the door and took James, who was standing in front of him armed with the pipe. Peters slowly came up to him and took a swing. James parried the blow.

The next one wasn't a problem for James either. But Peters learned as quickly as James could parry. He gripped the pipe with both hands, which James held on to with all his might. The pipe slipped from his hands and flew over Peter's head with a high arc. James swallowed. Peters didn't hesitate for a second and attacked him. At the right moment, James slipped under his legs and Peters snapped into space. When he turned around, James threw some books and pens at him. When he ran out of ammunition, he threw Peters with the table lamp, paper, scotch tape and finally he rolled the chair towards Peters. Peters only made this angrier. A thick layer of foam had formed around his mouth, which slowly peeled off and dripped onto the floor. James choked. It was just disgusting.

* * *

It wasn't that different for the Doctor. Dodging the poor and foaming mouths that snapped at her, slapped the surprisingly thick skin of her pursuers several times and confused her with the light of her sonic screwdriver. Sir had to go to the door, but how many of them lurked behind the door could have a huge impact on their chances of survival. At least she had to try! She opened the door and ran past the infected people waiting for her. As the crew reached for her and sometimes ran after her, they roared in her ears. The doctor could hardly shake it off. It was harder now that the entire ship was after her. She remembered the innocent Campbell and Phillips who had been so brave and looked after Baker. An Mystcrotropy that should be sold on the black market. To James, who was now struggling with the infected deputy. She had to go to the tardis, but she couldn't go far with the pursuers. The doctor ran like she had never run before. Even when she ran away from Gallifrey, she wasn't running like she did now. At some point her feet hurt and her lungs burned. But she persevered and ran to the tardis.

The infected had slowed down. Now there was a good meter between them. The doctor finally reached the tardis. She stumbled inside, closed the door, and slumped to the floor. Her feet ached as if she'd walked over sharp nails all the time. Still strong-willed she got up, stumbled to the console of the tardis and gave the course.

* * *

James had mysteriously managed to drive Peters into the corner. Peters hissed and stood there trying to scratch James with his long fingers to infect him.  
Suddenly there was a hum. It buzzed three times, a familiar and beautiful one that James would never forget.  
The tardis landed right behind him. Except for the deep scratches on the wood that were most likely from the infected, she looked as pretty as ever. The doctor stormed up, grabbed James and dragged him into the tardis. When Peters tried to take the chance, she sprayed him in the eyes with a spray. Painful and with pitiful cries, he put his hands in front of the burning eyes. When he calmed down a few moments later, the doctor threw the detonator into his hands. In seconds, the doctor closed the door and ran to the console to enter a different course.  
Peters inspected the detonator. Without thinking about it, he pressed the red button. An explosion after another shook the Saint Churchill. The crew screamed and roared, but it was too late. Saint Churchill sank into the vastness of the sea.

James clung to the Tardis railing. He looked up. They had actually made it. When the Doctor had threw the ignition, he hadn't expected it to work so surefire. He laughed and got up with little effort, even when his leg answered painfully. The doctor was standing in front of the console with a strange expression that James couldn't match. "Are you all right, Doctor?" He asked worriedly. When she returned to reality, she raised her head. "Yeah, it's all right. James, I want to show you something! Please follow me!" She said, like a change of subject. James raised an eyebrow. He didn't always want to follow her everywhere because she asked. Slowly he felt like a servant. But then his curiosity won out and he followed her anyway.  
The doctor led him through the many corridors of the Tardis, at least it felt to James as if they were going on a world tour through the Tardis. At some point they arrived at a high double door that opened automatically.

James was amazed. It was a huge swimming pool. The tiled stone walls were arranged in strange and at the same time beautiful patterns. A fountain shot water into the pool. On a grandstand stood a beautiful statue of a woman, from whose vase she was holding sprang golden light and brightened the room in all its depth. The ceiling was high and a beautiful constellation was painted on it. "Beautiful!" Breathed James full of enthusiasm. "Oh that!" Replied the doctor hastily, "Terae has a much nicer one and you have to see Vaneis first.".

"Cool!". James blinked. How could she call this beauty inferior? "I think it's beautiful! Why are we here? ", He finally asked. The doctor just pointed into the water of the pool. James stepped closer, ready for anything, and looked at the Mystcrotropy." How? When? "James could hardly hold back his joy. He had already been worried about the Mystcrotropy. He thought the doctor had forgotten him, but apparently she hadn't. He knelt and gently stroked the back of the Mystcrotropy "When I got the Tardis, I was very reluctant to leave him behind. I would like to bring him back to his home planet, "she explained.

* * *

The tardis landed on a hill of ice. They had landed on Vitrier, the home planet of the Mystcrotropy. It was just winter and the Mystcrotropy were hibernating each year. The doctor held the Mystcrotropy in his hands and one last stroked his back. With much care, she put him on the floor. The fascinating thing about Vitrier was, she found, that in winter all Mystcrotropy frooze themselves to escape the natural external cold. In the spring they thawed again by cranking their bodys again. So they revived.

The Mystcrotropy, saved by Saint Churchill, layed between his people and was covered by a thin layer of ice. After a few seconds he was hibernating.  
James touched the doctor's shoulder. She hadn't heard him coming at all. He must have snuck up. "Doctor, it's getting cold!", he complained trembling. The doctor closed the door and ran straight to the console. She had forgotten something. Someone. She had forgotten Ace. The adventures that they had experienced together. Path. Like soap bubbles when they burst.

"I don't think everything's okay," James admitted suddenly. The doctor wiped his eyes. "It's all right. I'm just tired," she lied. She was about to start a new course when James put his hands on hers. He hugged her gently. "It's okay! It was the right thing with Saint Churchill. We saved the earth from becoming angry, foaming, infected," he whispered comfortingly in her ear. The doctor was still not a fan of hugs, but feeling that James was cheering herself up, she let her.  
"You're right! It was the right one!" The doctor agreed.  
"How about a completely different planet than Earth?" The doctor suggested as it released from his arms. James' eyes were red. "Yes, gladly!" He gasped. The doctor danced to the console and to enter a new course. "How about Barcelona? I haven't gotten to travel there yet. Or Barra, the planet with the huge forests? Or Erson, the planet that-", she yawned. She had never yawned. "Oh, but someone's tired there," laughed James, but the doctor didn't feel like it. "It's strange!" She said when she caught up with the tiredness again. She stopped the calculations for the new course and sank to the ground. Her eyes closed as if stones were pulling her down. You heard a soft plum! James must have fallen asleep next to her.


	12. His very first war

Juli 1914:

James McCartney was an excellent shooter. It is said that he broke a new record of shooting training dolls. His superior, McCann, hoped that during the war that would come, he was as good as his training promised. James had assured him that this war would be glorious, but with its strength and large number of troops, victory would quickly be in its pocket.  
When James found himself in his office like every morning, something suddenly stung his chest. He missed something or someone, but wasn't sure what it was.  
Miss Smith, a small build woman with long curly hair, visited him every morning to serve him coffee and mostly a good breakfast, which he forgot every time he went home. Miss Smith was the department head for foreign language translation. She was one of the only women here. However, James never saw her go home. It almost seemed like she was sleeping in her office next to his. Of course that was absolute nonsense. James had once looked into her office. It was packed with books and folders and cards. She mastered the mess so well that James didn't have to worry about losing or forgetting something at some point. Unfortunately, he was not familiar with this area, which is why he assumed that this chaos was normal and that it looked the same with every foreign language department manager.  
Breakfast was already on his office table today. As far as he knew it was exclusively 19th century food. James didn't know if Miss Smith was stuck in time and just tasted this food or if it was the only thing she could cook.  
James ate the scrambled eggs, the rock-hard bread that tasted like ground, and the butter that smelled of horse.

* * *

The doctor made a ginger tea to which she had recently developed a kind of addiction. As she took a sip after the other and admired her orange hair in the mirror, there was an excited knock on the door. Fortunately five times. She still got sweats when there were four. There was another knock. It was more urgent this time. The doctor got up and ran over to the door to calm the impatient. A man with short hair and soldier's clothing from the First World War. So here they ended up! In the first war in which the whole world was involved. The doctor had focused so much on her hair that she had completely overlooked it. And she rarely missed things. The soldier, whose name Hills was sewn onto his jacket, took the hat off his head. His worried face spoke volumes.

"Miss Smith? Please forgive the disturbance. Hills is my name. I am coming with an urgent matter," he said. The doctor smiled warmly. She had expected James, who had strangely disappeared. She let Hills in. "What is this concern?", She asked immediately and offered him a cup of ginger tea. "My buddy Maurice Jones didn't show up this morning. I've already looked in his bed. He isn't there either. Nobody saw him leave the premises and even the night watch. I'm worried a lot. We were at the together Stonehenge Academy in Bristol. We've been friends with that since childhood, "Hills said. "I'm sorry," said the doctor, expressing pity. The academy seemed familiar to her from her childhood. After all, it was no different for her and the master. But why did she have to start with him now?

"I don't want to be rude, but I'm a secretary. You should go to the chief officer and not to me," the doctor continued. Hills looked at her hopefully. "I was told that you are extremely good at dealing with lost items. You've found Jackson's watch and Brighton's pictures of the family. You are like a detective.," Hills said excitedly. The despair was still reflected in his eyes. The doctor blushed. "And you thought that I could also uncover the disappearance of people? You're right. Disappeared people. My area.", She poured herself some more tea while Hills' cup was still full to the brim. "Are you still drinking this?" She asked, completely caught up in her addiction. Hills shook his head and put the cup on the office table.

A few minutes later, the two had found Jones' quarters. The bed was made properly. Two pictures of his family hung on the wall. The doctor eyed the bed, took dust samples, and examined Jones' personal belongings. Hills had taken the day off for the doctor to investigate. In fact, the doctor found no trace of Jones' whereabouts. It was almost as if he had never been here. The doctor took the pictures off the wall. A happy woman, two children and himself. Everyone smiled beamingly at the camera. On the back of the picture were the names Mary, Clara and Tom. His family. "Have you found anything yet?" Hills asked, bringing the doctor back to reality. "Yes. What is it?", She lifted the pictures in front of Hill's nose.

"A happy family," he replied confused. "Wrong! Too happy family. The picture was taken a day before he got here. You can see that in the background. There soldiers are walking up and down. But this smile. It's too real. I don't see any sadness in the eyes of his who probably knows what happens. Don't you think that's strange? If my family went to war, I wouldn't smile really, "said the doctor in a hurry. In fact, she had seen that before. It looked like a dream. But she remembered a young woman who went to war despite her attempts. The memory lasted a moment and was so blurred that it looked like a past dream.

Hills blinked once. "But they may never see each other again! You smile when you say goodbye!" Hills said loudly. He was clearly on the brink of despair. The doctor put a hand on his shoulder.

"Yes! You're right. Has Jones suffered from nightmares or dreams strange lately?" She asked carefully. She had found a trace and was reluctant to lose it. Hills considered for a moment. "Yes. But I don't remember exactly what he dreamed of," he replied. Then there was silence. The doctor looked at the faces in the pictures. They looked happy. Too happy. She wondered if it was human that Jones was gone, but she hadn't believed that from the start. It was too strange. Too mysterious. It had to be of an extraterrestrial nature. "Miss Smith?" Hills shook her again. "The soldiers will soon go back to their quarters," he said. The doctor immediately understood. It would be too strange if they were sitting here. "All right! I'm already done anyway!". She hung up the pictures again and strutted away. She had to rummage through her papers and investigate like a real master detective and- "ah!".

She bumped into a young man who had run towards her with a stack of paper. "McCartney?" She scrambled to her feet and helped him collect the papers. "Miss Smith! I can do it alone. Thanks!", He said and nodded defensively. The doctor got up. James didn't recognize her! Why didn't he recognize her? She had recognized him in the first second. His brown hair, his bright eyes. His soft voice to fall in love with. "All right!", She jumped past him back into her office.

"What was that about?" She murmured as she crouched on the floor behind the door. He didn't recognize her.


	13. Dream of horror

The woman with her orange hair was back in her office. Luckily. James couldn't remember her face except for her many freckles. She should have stayed at home instead of working here as a librarian. It was too dangerous here. There was not only war, but also men who saw a woman as beautiful as her as a one-night stand. James definitely wanted to keep her safe. One of his men, Maurice Jones, had disappeared without a trace. None of his roommates and even the night watch had seen anything. James thought Jones was hiding from fear, but it couldn't be. According to his childhood friend Stephen Hills, Jones was a tough guy who didn't make anything small. So it was unlikely that he had hid himself. "Mr. McCartney?" Someone asked suddenly. James looked up and met Miss Smith's eyes. "Are you all right? You've been sitting on the floor staring at him for five minutes," she said, cocking her head. James realized his absence and got up. "Thank you. Everything's fine. Everything's fine. I was thinking," he replied sheepishly. Miss Smith smiled amused. "Then I'm already calmed down. Have you heard of the missing soldier? I'm really sorry!", She said pitifully. James wiped a strand of hair from his face. "Yes, I did! However, I think he ran away. That is the most logical solution.". "Run away? Where to? Nobody saw him run away!". Miss Smith stopped defiantly. James wondered why the doctor behaved so childishly and above all, it seemed strange to him. The doctor must have unpacked one of her other faces. "Then he still has to be in the building! Well, it doesn't matter! That can wait. We need-", he was about to continue talking, when Miss Smith intervened. "You can't just leave it like that! You have to find out where Jones is!" She almost shouted in his face. James started. It was the first time the doctor shouted at him. James couldn't say anything when Miss Smith stormed off furiously. "What did I say wrong now?" Asked James confused. "Some!" James turned on the heel. The other Miss Smith looked at him from the top of the stairs. "Mr. McCartney. I need your help deciding on the selection process. Can you come briefly?" She called to him. James sighed in annoyance. "Yes I come.". James climbed the stairs to her. When he got to the top, Miss Smith was gone. James looked around. "Miss Smith? Miss Smith? Where did you go? I should help you. If you just go, I can't help you," he called upstairs. Many offices were empty here. It was mostly dark and especially cold in winter. With every heartbeat, the cleaning women refused to wipe even a little dust here. This building was called Freedomhall, in which the soldiers and some others were quartered. Apparently there were no more rooms available in the other camps and so they were moved here. Little by little James ventured into the cold, narrow corridors of the upper floor. However, he overlooked some scratch marks. They were so pointed and big that they could only come from a large animal like a lion. "James. The messenger's mother's here!" someone suddenly whispered to him. "Come here James! I want to show you something!" Continued the voice. James raised his hair. What did that mean. "James!" The voice hissed threateningly. James then turned on his heel and ran down the stairs. That was too much for him. Way too much! He had to get out of here. That was the wrong Miss Smith that had called him to him.

* * *

Michael Owen was no longer the youngest in his unit, but all the more experienced. However, the other soldiers kept saying that he was too strict. Owen grinned secretly. To think something like that was really amusing.  
"Michael!" A voice hummed. It was the same one that had spoken to James. Owen started. It was night. He had just left his shift as a night watchman and his buddy Stanford had replaced him. Now he was on the way to the bathroom. "Michael, I have something for you!" The voice hummed again. A young woman was standing in front of him. Owen hadn't noticed her before. Her face and body were covered in shadows, so Owen could only see her feet. "Michael! Come on!" Said the voice further.  
"Excuse me, young lady. This is not a place for you. Especially not during the war," said Owen. The woman remained silent. "Are you all right?" Owen asked, moving closer. "Michael! Help me!", The voice had changed its tone. A tone Owen knew well. The woman stepped out of the shadows and showed her scarred face. "Michael!". She stretched out her pale, scratched arms. Owen took a step back. That was his wife. "Monica?" He whispered stunned. Monica continued to stumble toward him. Her lifeless body shone silver in the moonlight. "But you're dead!" Owen cried desperately. It couldn't be! It was impossible! His wife had died in an accident. Then how could she be here? As Monica kept going, Owen couldn't move. When their faces almost touched, Owen screamed one last time.

* * *

James woke up jerkily. What was that just now? Had someone screamed? Impossible! Except someone had had the same dark dream as him, which of course was impossible. He thought back to Miss Smith, who had lured him to the top floor. It was an old building with many crammed chambers and unused rooms. There must have been secret passages. So Miss Smith could have disappeared. James held his head. Why should she send him to her and then disappear? None of that made sense!

* * *

  
"James McCartney!" Miss Smith called to him. Her red hair circled her face like a mane. James took a deep breath. He had got up with the wrong foot. His hair was disheveled and he had scratched his clothes together at the last moment. He didn't show his annoyance when he joined Miss Smith and Hills. The two stood around a barrier. Splashes of blood lined the right wall. James tried to suppress the shiver that climbed his back. "What happened?" Asked James with little enthusiasm and no trace of curiosity.  
"A murder case!" Answered the doctor. Now James was there with all his senses. "A murder case?" James couldn't believe what he had just heard. "Yes, and you're number one suspect!" Miss Smith exclaimed, dangling handcuffs from her fist. James swallowed nervously.

The interrogation room was an empty office. And empty, so James realized, was really empty. It was just an empty lonely room with a table and two chairs and a lamp that had been brought in specially.  
James was sitting across from Miss Smith. The falling light that slid through the wooden-beamed windows lit up her red hair like fire. As always, she wore her black cardigan over her black blouse while a wide white skirt twisted around her legs. Her pearl necklace clinked around her neck. James had never looked at Miss Smith closely. It was beautiful. He immediately dismissed the thought. He loved the other Miss Smith. When making the selection, they could at least have made sure that not two of the same name lived together. Why am I suspected of having anything to do with it? ", James finally. Miss Smith raised her eyes from the piece of paper that she had scribbled on.  
"You are very tired of what you see in your dark circles and panicked when I mentioned the murder. It can hardly be a suspect," said Miss Smith. James looked at her in confusion. "I was shocked to see something like this happen here! I'm tired from having a nightmare," he replied. His heart pounded the air from his lungs. How could she suspect him of murder? He hadn't done anything! "Is that so? What was the dream about?" Asked Miss Smith oddly. James closed his eyes stressed. He was innocent! She just had to believe him.  
"From a blue police box!" He finally answered.

* * *

"Aha!" cried the doctor cheerfully. She had known it all along! The fake smile in Jones' pictures, James nightmare from the tardis. It all made sense now!  
"What 'aha'?" Asked Hills, who had been in the background the whole time. The doctor grinned mischievously. "Don't you see it? It was right under our nose! Everything suddenly makes sense. Also why you don't recognize me."  
James blinked irritated. He had to go through this all day and didn't even know what was going on. He didn't recognize her because he couldn't. He slept soundly, just like her.  
"We dream!" Was her short answer. Hills and James exchanged meaningful looks. "We dream like normal people do. What's so special about it?" James said in a squeaky voice.  
The doctor sat across from him again. Her red hair tickled her nose. That was also a dream. "Do you remember that we fell asleep in the tardis?", She persistently asked that she was turning his world upside down. James didn't say a word.  
"Think. Think! Your dreams! These are not dreams, but reality. You sleep and this is your dream. The red hair? A dream! This house? A dream! The people around you? Other dreamers! This is a fortress of dreams! "Said the doctor, dropping her opponent's chin to the ground. "That's impossible!" Laughed James, "you suspect me of murder and then serve me something like that! It's impossible!"  
Hills agreed with James. In incomprehension, he shook his head and wiped sweat from his forehead.  
The doctor looked at him disappointed. He had followed her every step so far and now he pulled back when it came to the truth. "This is total nonsense! I'm going!" Hills exclaimed loudly and left the room grimly. Of course she hadn't told him about this before. The doctor ran after him. He couldn't go. It was too dangerous. It was full of traumas out there who were responsible for this nightmare house. But Hills was quick. The doctor couldn't catch up with him and then Hills had disappeared into one of the rooms. He had to cope with that first. The doctor could understand him very well there. She had also experienced a lot that it had taken years of strength and reason.  
James appeared next to her. The reddening of his eyes had subsided and only his nose was running. "What's he got all of a sudden?" He asked. The doctor then waved only with his hand. "Oh don't care! Go ahead. You don't believe me either," she sighed sadly. She had to convince the two somehow. But how? "I believe you Miss Smith," said James suddenly.

"It makes sense. My life here, my past, my childhood, they seem so far away and imprecise, as if they were just facts but not memories. When you mentioned the tardis, I thought about it. There was a woman, the doctor. I have to find her!" The doctor blinked at him in disbelief. How could he not have seen that before? How could he not have recognized her yet?

  
"Is something wrong?" Asked James irritably, but the doctor was already on the way to Hills. When she reached the middle of the aisle, a shout of lightning broke through the silence. It was Hills. The doctor and James ran to the office by hiding. But the door was locked from the inside. "Hills? Hills! Open the door!" James shouted, pulled and on the doorknob, but it didn't help. "Hills!" James continued to shout. He pushed against the door to loosen her from the pose. That didn't help either.

Regardless, perhaps out of anger at James, the doctor pushed him aside and kicked the door in with her foot. Hills stood in front of them with a scratched face, staring at the ceiling with his hands raised. The doctor followed his gaze. A four-winged bat with its pointed claws and a large mouth flew around the ceiling. A trauma. When the trauma discovered the doctor and James it attacked them too. The doctor took out her sonic screwdriver and pressed a button. A high-pitched whistle sounded and the trauma burst. It fell to the floor as black smoke.


	14. The room of zero

James couldn't believe his eyes. It just had Bat-like creature in smoke before his eyes that had previously attacked Hills. "Oh my god!" He murmured in shock. "No, a trauma. Or do you mean me? I'm the doctor. Glad to meet you again," said Miss Smith quickly. But it couldn't be! The other Miss Smith was the doctor. James shook her outstretched hand in confusion. "But- the hair- the doctor has no red hair!" He stammered. That could not be true. He had to dream. That was the only way he could explain it all. Ignoring his insulting words, the doctor pulled out tweezers and poked around in the smoke. "As I thought it would! Dead as a mouse. Or should I say smoke-dead? No, the other sounds much better. Completely resolved. No trauma far and wide," she said as she eyed the plumes of smoke that were slowly moving evaporated. There she was again, James thought absently. "Miss Smith? I'm going to the infirmary!" Hills explained and was about to leave when the doctor took a serious hold on his sleeve. "Not! It's too dangerous. The other traumas are still out there." Hills shook off her arm. "A war is raging here. I've seen more terrible things than that." He replied stubbornly and went out. "Don't worry, Doctor. He'll be fine," James tried to calm her down. "You just saw that well!" She hissed insulted. Her expression relaxed when she looked at James' face. He knew it really was. And he was fine. That was all that mattered. "Oh, James!". She gently wiped his face. It was cold and thin she thought her hand would go through like a hologram. "Whose dream is this? Yours?" Asked James. He never took his eyes off her. "It's like ants. No ant builds a building on its own. They all act like a family and create the big ant structures. This is how the traumas work. This place consists of the dreams of many," explained the doctor. "But this office, it's yours. The whole empty floor is part of your dream." James started. He must have wondered why it was empty, but even the doctor didn't know the answer. Before he could ask, she dreamed that he didn't. "How can you be sure that it's not yours?" He continued to poke. He was not only curious, he tried to deal with the situation. "Because I dream of other things," she lied cheekily. Although it was only half a lie. Of course she was dreaming, that was out of the question, but her dreams were powerful. She dreamed of her past, her future. Only someone with her mind could understand what was really going on in her head. She could also control that dream, which meant James would throw her out like the trauma. And that's exactly what he would do. He would chase the traumas out of this dream!

* * *

"That's great!",


	15. The Queen of the Traumas

James couldn't believe his eyes. It just had Bat-like creature in smoke before his eyes that had previously attacked Hills. "Oh my god!" He murmured in shock. "No, a trauma. Or do you mean me? I'm the doctor. Glad to meet you again," said Miss Smith quickly. But it couldn't be! The other Miss Smith was the doctor. James shook her outstretched hand in confusion. "But- the hair- the doctor has no red hair!" He stammered. That could not be true. He had to dream. That was the only way he could explain it all. Ignoring his insulting words, the doctor pulled out tweezers and poked around in the smoke. "As I thought it would! Dead as a mouse. Or should I say smoke-dead? No, the other sounds much better. Completely resolved. No trauma far and wide," she said as she eyed the plumes of smoke that were slowly moving evaporated. There she was again, James thought absently. "Miss Smith? I'm going to the infirmary!" Hills said and was about to leave when the doctor took a serious hold on his sleeve. "Not! It's too dangerous. The other traumas are still out there." Hills shook off her arm. "A war is raging here. I've seen more terrible things than that." He replied stubbornly and went out. "Don't worry, Doctor. He'll be fine," James tried to reassure her. "You just saw that well!" She hissed insulted. Her expression relaxed when she looked at James' face. He knew it really was. And he was fine. That was all that mattered. "Oh, James!". She gently wiped his face. It was cold and thin she thought her hand would go through like a hologram. "Whose dream is this? Yours?" Asked James. He never took his eyes off her. "It's like ants. No ant builds a building on its own. They all act like a family and create the big ant structures. This is how the traumas work. This place consists of the dreams of many," explained the doctor. "But this office, it's yours. The whole empty floor is part of your dream." James started. He must have wondered why it was empty, but even the doctor didn't know the answer. Before he could ask, she dreamed that he didn't. "How can you be sure that it's not yours?" He continued to poke. He was not only curious, he tried to deal with the situation. "Because I dream of other things," she lied cheekily. Although it was only half a lie. Of course she was dreaming, that was out of the question, but her dreams were powerful. She dreamed of her past, her future. Only someone with her mind could understand what was really going on in her head. She could also control this dream, which meant that James would throw her out like the trauma. And that's exactly what he would do. He would chase the traumas out of this dream!

* * *

rJames lay down on the couch in the doctor's office. He wondered why she had one at all, but then he didn't have to lie on the floor. His head rested on a blue pillow that smelled of tobacco. He wrinkled his nose in disgust.  
"What's the plan?" Asked James.  
"This is your dream. You have power over what exactly happens. If you want to fly, fly. If you want to destroy the table, destroy it. You are master of this dream. I will now have the look of the tardis in your skull project. ", explained the doctor and wanted to put his hands on his head, but James fended them off. "Wait! Why the tardis of all places? There's a nice place here too!" Protested James frantically. "This belongs to the trauma. You would discover us immediately," she explained, placing her hands on his temples. They were soft and delicate. Without warning, the doctor squeezed and shot a load of energy into his skull. James cried out, but then it was over immediately.  
He didn't dare to open his eyes. When he did, his breath took him away.  
He was alone. He was standing in an empty passage, the walls were rounded and bare. This was part of the tardis. So it worked.  
James started to run. The aisles didn't seem to stop. Only from time to time did doors appear, which were however firmly locked. The doctor had definitely left it locked.  
When he finally turned the corner, he shivered. A swarm of large and small trauma had leaned over Hills' body, from which a strange blue light was flowing. This blue light was eaten with relish by the trauma. These had to be the nightmares and dreams they ate.  
Before James was discovered, he disappeared around the corner. "James? James, are you there?" The doctor's voice suddenly echoed through his skull. "Yes, I'm here! I found the traumas."

t "Good. You got Hills, unfortunately."  
"I see it!" Replied James disgustedly as Hills dissipated with a disgusting sound.  
"Okay, be careful! And stick to our plan," the doctor ordered stoically. James rolled his eyes in annoyance. That was his doctor. Without doubt. She was still a control freak, especially when it came to survival.  
James exhaled calmly. The plan sounded perfect. Everything was well thought out and if things went wrong, the doctor had even drawn up a plan B. James only liked the first half less. He should play the decoy and lead the traumas into the zero room to lock them up there. James felt as eaten up as Hills was lying on the ground, but he had no choice. He had to do it for the good of the others.  
"Okay, I'll do it!" James exclaimed loudly and walked to the traumas with dread. "Ey, you! There is delicious food here!", He called, ready to lure the trauma into a trap. But the traumas were too distracted by the last remnants of Hills to be interested in him.  
So he had to resort to other means. He closed his eyes and imagined blue light flowing from his body and covering the heads of the traumas. Completely hypnotized, they followed the light to the source. To James. When James opened his eyes again, he looked into one of their faces. It had worked. Now he just couldn't ruin it, otherwise everything would be in vain and he would be a delicious dessert. He walked cautiously, his eyes always on his pursuers, who in no way registered that the blue light was not a real one.  
James dared to turn to look ahead and pick up a little pace. The trauma followed him at every turn. At some point James started running. He had to go to the zero room. Suddenly it occurred to him that he didn't even know his location. So he imagined the zero room appearing in front of him.

The passage grew longer and longer, leading James in every direction until a strange fog formed right before his eyes and solidified. The automatic sliding door opened and James stumbled straight into the locker room. That was wrong. He wanted to go to the Zero Room and not here. A hiss. The traumas behind him were getting closer. A green liquid dripped from their mouths like drool. James swallowed nervously. He tried to relax and thought again of the zero room. Unfortunately, he couldn't imagine anything, which is why he could only think of the name.  
As if on command, a light shone between the clothes in front of him. It was as lovely as a hug. James ran towards it and pushed the clothes aside. Another room opened in front of him. It was empty and shone in all colors. James smiled happily. He had found the zero room!  
A hiss behind James made him flinch. The crush of trauma was still hungry. James imagined the blue light around him filling the room and in fact the trauma was flying straight towards it. They even ignored James, which made him grin. He was about to turn his back on the swarm when something bit his leg. It was a small trauma that was not easily distracted. James cried out in pain. The sharp teeth bored into his flesh and tugged at it. James fell to the floor. So that's how it felt when you ended up having lunch as a trauma.  
James tried to stave off the trauma, but it was stuck well. He could barely grasp and take it off, since the trauma was small and quick it couldn't got off quickly.


	16. The Traumas' Queen

"I can't get him off!" James cried desperately. the teeth dug more and more into the meat.  
"james, calm down! it's just a dream!" the doctor called back to his mind. james had a hard time following her, after all it felt so real. the pain. it felt like reality.  
for some reason he relaxed. he closed his eyes and imagined trauma disappearing again, and in fact it let go of his leg.  
James breathed a sigh of relief. it was a dream.  
He got up hastily and left the room. the double door closed with a hiss. james was alone again.  
"Done!" he exclaimed joyfully.  
"There's a problem," the doctor interrupted his joyous dance. James paused. a problem? hopefully it had nothing to do with his stay. he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.  
"The Traumas have a queen. She's very good at hiding. Please don't panic and run.", the Doctor continued.  
James looked around and saw an enormous bat standing in front of him. His teeth where sharper than he imagined. His eyes lightened up in hunger.  
James startet to run.  
"It's the queen! That's so exciting!", shouted the Doctor in his ear as run into the console room.

. James scrambled to his feet and fled back to Ang. He didn't know where to run, he just ran after his nose. At some point he stepped into the console room. The doctor was sitting on the console, a tray in his hands with two glasses on it.  
the doctor stood up with a sly smile and offered james one of the glasses. Ginger tea sloshed. With a shaky hand, James took one and feared he would drop it. finally he found the words he was looking for.  
"what happened?" he asked confused.  
instead of answering, the doctor pointed behind him. james turned around slowly. it could be anything. whatever it was, it was going to be one hundred percent scary.  
the blue mist enveloped the queen. the little traumas swam around them and fed.  
the queen of trauma was slowly dissolving, and so were her little servants.  
james stumbled backwards.  
it was impossible to watch. luckily it was quick.  
"They are defeated! Now you should wake up slowly!"  
in fact, James woke up immediately.  
his head hit the metal floor. groaning, he rubbed his head, throbbing with pain.  
he stood up. exhaled. that was a tough trip. he really thought he had served in the First World War. that was total nonsense! there would never be a world war.  
James looked over at the doctor. she saw him with sad eyes. "Is something wrong?" he asked carefully. she closed her eyes and when she opened her tears were gone. "I'm not ginger as before!" She sobbed.  
"That's why you're sad? Because of your hair color? We barely escaped death! And you'd rather be ginger ?!" James blinked in bewilderment. she couldn't be serious. "I've wanted to be Ginger all my life," she said, leaning against the console next to him.  
"then color them!", he suggested, but the doctor and this is not so obvious. "It wouldn't be the same. I've been regenerated so many times. And every time I was either blond, brown-haired or black-haired or they were white. But never ginger. Should I regenerate again, and that will happen, I want to be ginger!".

"You're not serious!"   
"I'm always serious!".  
James blinked. "I thought it was some sort of joke. I didn't know you were serious. I mean, nobody regenerates like you said.", he declared.   
The Doctor looked besides him. "I'm not people. I'm a timelady from the planet Gallifrey in the consolation of Kastorborus.", she explained like a few days ago. He must have a forgotten.  
It was silence.   
James didn't know what to answer. Maybe she was crazy. Maybe she spoke the truth. From that, what he had saw, it must have been true.  
"Yes. A timelady.", he whispered.  
The Doctor standed up. She had to find out why she had forgotten some companies, friends and family members. She never forget a face, and when she did, It wasn't like this. It was difficult. It was horrible.


	17. James, Jack and Joan

James had finally found it: a blue book in gallifreyan.  
the golden colours shined in the bright light like rainbows.  
james did had found it in the library of the tardis when he made himself comfortable with some books he wanted to admire.  
some lay in showcases or were locked behind doors and bolt. he couldn´t imagine how dangerous a book could be, but the doctor must have a good reason for it.  
sometimes, when listened closely and he stopped brathing, he could hear a scream behind the dorrs the books were lokecked- in.  
james had found the book in an open display case that was always accessible. he opened it. fortunatly the tardis was able to translateeverythink for james.  
the first 2 pages were blank. then the doodles started. a list had been written down hastily and quickly. it stretched over the whole book. the words had been so squeezed together that some pages were just a black blopp.  
james knew exactly what kind of book that was: advice on the last of it´s kind: the Doctor herself.  
the various manuscripts suggest that several authors were at work. definitely her former companions, thought james and immadiately read through the first rule in dealing with the doctor:  
The doctor lies!  
james paused. he read the second line:  
the doctor makes you wait!  
the third rule was:  
the doctor lets you down!  
james dropped the book. what did that mean? could the doctor, who always smiled sweetly and cared for her environment be something like that? james carefully picked the book up. it felt heavier. "That cant be!", he said desperately and turned the page by page. each rule was similar to the first three. again and again the doctor was insulted as a monster. "Those were no longer rules, ", wrote the last author before the book ended with blank pages, "they´re facts.".  
the realization that the doctor was such a caharcter weighed heavily on james´heart. it would be hours to digest.  
"james!", the doctors familiar voicwe reached him. "james, come on, Paris is waiting for us.". she called over the intercom. james looked at the cover of the book. an older white man with a grin looked at him. the doctor. james could trust the doctor, but what was written here was difficult. in aw ay, there had to be thruth in the rules too.  
"I´m coming!", james said finally.  
he didn´t knew the doctor long to know her well, but long enough to know her. so he had to form his own opinion. actually. on their first adventure he had already formed an opinion. he liked the doctor. he had joined her not only out of love, but also because he respected her.  
"i Can´t hear you! The inercom works in one direction!", the doctor suddenly explained, ads if she zahd heard him very well.  
James made his wy to the console room.


End file.
